Husky Green Awards

With over 80,000 students, faculty, and staff on campus, it’s difficult to comprehend the sheer number of packages, textbooks, course packets and dorm mail UW Mailing Services delivers on a daily basis. Thankfully, those deliveries are now a lot more efficient and environmentally friendly.

As the student sustainability assistant, Alexa Russo became an integral part of UW Bothell's sustainability work. So integral, that after graduating she was asked to stay on as UW Bothell's interim sustainability coordinator.

Alexa was first introduced to Bothell’s Sustainability Office at a club fair on campus. What was a quick casual chat with the then-Sustainability Coordinator Cassie Lubenow sparked a relationship with the office that outlasted her student career.

Frieda Luoma-Cohan wasn’t content to confine her college experience to the classroom.

As an Environmental Studies student, she sought out opportunities to take her learning outside, whether it was on a class field trip, an outdoor excursion, or the opportunity to be the official steward of the new Sustainable Learning Space on south campus.

Sustainability in the arts, greening health sciences, and certifications for student groups. Selling succulents for sustainability, greening the greek community, and leading local markets. The students of UW EcoReps work on sustainability inititatives that have an impact on many different aspects of the Univeristy of Washington.

Henry Milander has always held an interest in sustainability. He spends many Saturday mornings with hands in the dirt, removing invasive plant species and cleaning up local parks through UW Rotaract. Social issues are well on his radar, too; Henry often volunteers his time at organizations that train disadvantaged individuals in culinary arts, and others that alleviate food insecurity.

Judy Twedt credits two things in fostering her interest and love for the natural world: the Pacific Northwest and a scholarly interest in philosophy.

Growing up in the PNW, Twedt loved the powerful mountain landscapes, the bounty of trees and the cold, salty grey water of the Puget Sound. She also remembers having an early interest in the people of the region, something which led her to leave her home of Tacoma to pursue a degree in philosophy at Colorado college.

Though our city isn’t known for sunny weather, solar arrays are still a highly viable source of energy for the PNW, and solar panels are starting to appear on rooftops across campus. Solar power installations can be found on the roofs of many West campus residence halls, including Mercer, Elm and Alder.

Shelby Cramer’s path to the Husky Green Award started with a simple question.

“I was walking with my little sister, and she randomly asked me what this tree was, this tree that was outside our house for years and year and years,” Shelby said. “I didn’t know what to tell her because I didn't know what that tree was, and that was kind of a light bulb moment. I felt a weird sense of shame in not knowing my own place.”

In 2009, a small group of students started a grassroots campaign to create a student-powered green fund at the University of Washington. The idea quickly gained wide support, and today the Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF) has granted more than $2 million to student-created sustainability projects, giving UW students a chance to shape the future of campus.